Columns like this are the stock in trade of folksy columnists trying to align with "the people." His sentiments are probably aligned with many peoples' (certainly if reflected in the continuing rise of WN and JetBlue), with us here as the tip-of-the-iceberg minority.

But that just means that your average FTer either has more travel than the average airline passenger and/or - perhaps most importantly - is diligent enough and organized enough to track and align and maximize all the earning opportunities AND organize the vacation time to take advantage of them.

It can be a lotta work, and heaven knows I've wondered a time or two over the past 10 years if I'm trading too much time for not enough monetary benefit.

He also might be right in spite of himself if airlines do devaluations soon (also known as the "Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut" phenomenon).

I don't plan to follow his lead, but I'm sure there are a lot of infrequent flyers out there still nursing the thought of this isolated thing or that isolated thing earning enough miles to get them to Hawaii in the next decade. If the big airlines start hiking award levels and the media gives it widespread coverage, those people could have a real effect on airlines' bottom lines if they get dis-incented.

Nope, the branch is right here. I'm happy to admit I'm a friend of Randy P.

-David

I couldn't resist posting. For me, the benefits of accumulating miles are two fold:
1. I can travel in a way that I would never be willing to pay actual $$$ for. Example: Friday my wife and I are travelling to Aruba first class which costs about $6K per person last I looked from CA. Well worth the 120,000 miles. I would never pay cash of $12K to fly to the Caribbean. We are going to Africa next year using miles and I would not ever fly coach there nor would I pay cash for a business class ticket.
2. Part of accumulating miles is the fun of the chase-how to maximize the miles you can accumulate and only doing things you would otherwise do anyway-i.e. use credit cards for miles for normal purchases, etc. My free time is too valuable to me to do mileage runs, etc but I do enjoy using the system (and great info from the people on this board) to maximize the miles I have.
Of course, there are also the benefits of status that our buddy does not get-ability to get exit rows in coach, go thru the shorter status security lines, etc.
I'm not ready to enroll in MA yet but I hardly feel imprisoned by the system.

Might I say I am very honored by this statement. In fact, it just may be the better part of another frantic day. Thanks David.

I see the t-shirts coming!

Bingo, Standby. In my small world, I have been an Evangelist for the FF payoff. But my family and friends while they think that I am good @ collecting good deals and free travel...they think I'm on the kooky side of life.

The truth is...I don't understand them. I just arranged a FF flight on AA to SAN for my mom using her miles that I taught her or told her would be a better way to communicate what happened. She fought me tooth and nail for getting ff miles. Even after getting free travel (well, it did cost $10 in fees), there are some things she wont do.

My family and friends know that I travel on free flights. But not one of them followed my example. This is the part that I can't get a grip on. If someone sees a opportunity then why don't they take advantage?

This guy is just like many of my family members and friends. He sees a deal but thinks it is liberation not to get involved. I just don't get it but it seems to be the way of most people. I guess all of us here on FT love this stuff but maybe we are all just a little mentality ill!

There wasa 4-5 year period in the mid 90's when I sort of was doing what this guy did. I flew different carriers willy nilly and was often not bothered to even give my FF number to collect miles. I HAD previously been very into it, but just couldn't be that inspired by it at the time (in fairness to me however I was flying lots of strange carriers that either had no FF programme or very strange foreign esoteric ones. This was a time before the big alliances and when there was little/no opportunity to get them in better programmes).

McGarvey, Brancatelli, Elliott -
why do you guys even bother reading these
people's stuff? Just be thankful that others
are misled by them to your benefit.

It seems most people are only addressing one question: Do you get miles for a flight or not?

That's a no-brainer. The decision becomes more difficult when you have to address both miles and cost.

For example, suppose you have the opportunity to either A) Fly Southwest and not be able to redeem the miles (you don't fly Southwest enough each year), or B) Fly a major, get the miles, but pay a lot more. What do you do?

A lot of people today are flying carriers with poor or restrictive FF programs (e.g., Jet Blue) and not worrying about the miles because the price is cheaper and the service is better.

In my experience, the "Fly Southwest and Save Money" notion is simply false. For flight after flight I find Southwest is either the same price or more expensive than American out of Austin.

Until you have to change your "nonrefundable" discount ticket. No problem on Southwest, 100% of your unused or cancelled ticket costs are reusable toward another ticket purchase within 12 months of the original ticket purchase, at no charge (only the difference in price IF ANY)! How much does that cost on American?!?

Oh, and FlyerTalk is mostly about Frequent Flyer programs. Ok, so for 4 roundtrip flights (no matter how short) out of Austin booked online this year, and even next year for only 6 roundtrip flights, you get a free ticket on Southwest which can be used at no extra charge for booking the LAST SEAT available on a plane the day before the flight. American's 25000 mile awards are not only much more restricted and capacity controlled, they charge you an award fee of $50 to $75 if you book an award less than 21 days out!


[This message has been edited by Stefan Daystrom (edited Nov 13, 2003).]

You're just like my relatives. I get free flights just on long distance and credit card usage alone...but I know, you are not interested. I suppose that for you, it is some grand scheme to "get" you.

Cool!

BTW, I may have to fly from Vancouver to Sydney next month. It would be great if I could purchase the ticket now to lock in the flight and fare, and if my plans change and I don't have to go, I could get my money (or value at least) back.

How much do you think SouthWest would charge for that ticket?

I bought a ticket LAX-LHR on AA during the "big" sale. I paid $181 base plus $110 in taxes for a total of $291. I will get with my AA Plat bonus/online booking bonus close to 25K miles. I rarely change my dates. I get a nice trip and nearly enough miles for a free domestic ticket. I booked online so my AA frequent # was already there.

I had a recent death in the family so I used one of my freebies to fly. It would normally cost quite alot of $ to fly last minute. One European trip gave me enough miles to fly domestically.

With hundreds of tickets bought over the last 23 years, I only had to pay change fees on less than 3 tickets. (the last time, the change fee was $50--I made in wages many times the change fee (of $50)because I volunteered to work overtime that weekend).

Bottom line: With very little trouble, I accumulate a load of miles that are very useful. Like flying business class to Australia/NZ. With the promos just after Sept 11, it cost me about $700 buying tickets to accumulate 95K miles for the business class award to Australia. A coach ticket to Australia/NZ would be over 2 grand with the routing I took. I think it is definitely worth adding my frequent flier # when I buy my tickets!

Edited to correct mistake.



[This message has been edited by chemist661 (edited Nov 15, 2003).]

I guess people are different. We all have our own way of doing things, including how we handle our travel plans. I prefer to spend a little time trying to get the best flight or hotel deal in terms of quality, price, and future awards. Others prefer not to. A colleague of mine is like this. He will call up the airline, hotel or travel agent and take and pay for their first suggestion (with personal money, not company). He doesn't want to be bothered with looking for the best price or collecting miles and points, or anything else that would take time. I do have to admit that he's always done with his travel plans in mere minutes.

This character quality carries over to the rest of his lifestyle. He's very easy going, prefers spending his time on what he likes to do, likes meeting and getting to know people, and makes friends easily. It's served him in good stead. A couple of years ago, we were both taking the same flight to a conference in the States. I got the better priced (deep-discount) economy ticket and the miles, and he (after purchasing his not-so-discounted economy ticket) called up one of several airline personnel he had gotten to know, and had himself upgraded to business class (no miles or upgrade certificate or FF membership needed) along with a complimentary pass to the executive lounge. He said he's done this every trip he's taken.

It's hard to call him a fool.